Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.41-1.44

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results for matches 1.25 to 1.28:

In match 1.25, Platycerium spp. beat Stromanthe sanguinea cvv., 65 to 51.
Match 1.26 went to Gynura aurantiaca over Hypoestes phyllostachya by a similar but slightly wider margin, 66 to 48, though there were some complaints from people that they didn't like either plant and didn't want to have to choose. Which is fair enough.

Platycerium and Gynura advance to the second round, where they will compete with one another on October 10.

The other two matches were basically blowouts: in 1.27, Aloe vera trounced Gymnocalycium spp. 83 to 33, and in 1.28, Schlumbergera cvv. smashed Dracaena surculosa by 91 to 23, which is not close at all but nevertheless a little closer than I had expected.

Aloe vera and Schlumbergera also meet up on October 10, in match 2.14, and I gotta say I'm a little nervous about the outcome of 2.14.

If anyone besides me cares, we're now about 2/3 of the way through the first round. (It'll end next Thursday Friday.) After that, the rounds will start going by a little faster. If everything goes according to schedule, I'll be announcing the winner on November 16.

Today's matches:

Match 1.41
Ficus pumila (creeping fig) vs. Dendrobium cvv.

Top left and bottom right: Ficus pumila. Bottom left and top right: variegated F. pumila.

Dendrobium cvv. Right center is 'Karen;' the others are NOIDs.





Match 1.42
Sedum morganianum / burrito (burro's tail) vs. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm)

Top left and bottom right: Sedum morganianum. Top right and bottom left: S. burrito.

(Bottom left: Beaucarnea recurvata variegata. Others: B. recurvata.)





Match 1.43
Euphorbia ammak / ingens / trigona (large columnar Euphorbias) vs. Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies)

L-R: Euphorbia NOID, Euphorbia ammak, Euphorbia trigona, Euphorbia NOID, Euphorbia NOID.

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'





Match 1.44
Polyscias fruticosa (ming aralia) vs. Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose (Eve's needle)

Top left and bottom right: Polyscias fruticosa. Top right: P. fruticosa 'Snowflake.' Bottom left: P. fruticosa 'Elegans.'

Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose (Photo credit: ArséniureDeGallium, at Wikimedia Commons.)





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Saturday morning Sheba and/or Nina picture

Thematically blurry!
So hey, I got to go to the Emergency Room again this week. It was more fun than the times I went for heat exhaustion (1) (2), but also quite a bit scarier in places.

The story is, I woke up from a nap on Thursday afternoon and my right eye was blurry. As in, I couldn't read the computer screen with my glasses on, sitting eighteen inches (46 cm) away. This is fairly alarming, but not entirely unprecedented -- it's normal for me to be a little bleary when I first wake up. It's not normal, though, for the fuzziness to last more than a couple minutes. There was no pain, no flashes of light or dark spots, no numbness or weakness or fever -- just really blurry. (It was worse than the blurriness one gets from having one's eyes dilated at the optometrist's, but not as bad as looking at the world through a thin, grease-soaked piece of paper, if that helps at all.)

So, this being 2011, I googled for "sudden blurred vision in one eye," or something to that effect, and a number of pages came up, all of which mentioned stroke and retinal detachment as a possible cause. I have family history of both, so this got my attention. And after about half an hour of blurred vision, we decided to go to the ER; within an hour of waking up, I was at the hospital. (The blurriness cleared up en route, so by the time I got to the hospital, I was seeing normally again, but still, everything through my right eye was out of focus for at least 45 minutes.)

Various drops were put in my eyes, lots of people pointed lights of varying colors and intensities at them, I got an eyeball-pressure test to check for glaucoma, which was better than the usual eyeball-pressure test but still damned weird,¹ and so on and so forth, and then the diagnosis was . . . that my eyes were dry. Or at least the one had been.

Which was kind of anticlimactic. I mean, not that I would rather have found out that my blurred vision was because your retinoblastoma gave you a stroke. And by the way, you also have glaucoma. And you just died. but -- dry eyes? Really? That's it?

The theory is, in essence, that I don't produce quite enough tears to lubricate my eyes properly, plus maybe dry air (unlikely, with all the plants in the house) and seasonal allergies (never noticed 'em before, but I suppose it's possible). As far as I can tell, this is probably true, but it doesn't quite satisfy. I mean, I'd also like to know why Thursday, and never before. I mean, if I have congenitally unlubricated eyes, you'd think I would have noticed before my late 30s.

But I'm okay anyway, I guess.

This whole getting-old thing is clearly not for the faint of heart, though.

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¹ The usual test involves sitting with your chin in a cup while they blow puffs of air at your eyeball. I hate this because I can never not jump when it happens, and I have a fairly low tolerance for being startled anyway. The new test is that they give you eyedrops (which burn slightly) to numb the eye, and then they take a pen-like thing and touch it to your cornea, which tells them how much pressure your eye pushes back with, or something like that. I didn't like the eyedrops, but this was still much, much better than the air-puff thing.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.37-1.40

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Today's results (matches 1.21 to 1.24):

Match 1.21 is another one of those rare matches that started out favoring the eventual loser (Ficus lyrata, in this case) and then flipped. Dracaena marginata cvv. won, 61 to 51.
Match 1.22 was quite a bit more one-sided: Cereus peruvianus beat Fittonia albivenis cvv. without even transpiring hard. Final score was 71 to 40.

Dracaena marginata will face Cereus peruvianus in match 2.11, on October 9.

The most one-sided match for this set was 1.23, Polyscias balfouriana and P. scutellaria vs. Hoya carnosa cvv. Hoya won easily, taking Polyscias down 82 to 23.
Finally: match 1.24 is where I realize that I hate slightly more than half of y'all. Maranta leuconeura cvv. defeated Anthurium cvv. 63 to 50.² I take some consolation in the fact that it was at least relatively close.

Hoya carnosa and Maranta leuconeura next compete on October 9, against one another in match 2.12.

And now, the matches for today:

Match 1.37
Pilea involucrata 'Norfolk' vs. Cereus tetragonus (fairy castle cactus, Acanthocereus tetragonus, Cereus hildmannius cv.)

(Both Pilea involucrata 'Norfolk.')

Cereus tetragonus. (Photo credit: Gwen's River City Images, via Flickr.)





Match 1.38
Chlorophytum comosum cvv. (spider plant) vs. Echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel cactus)

Clockwise from left: Chlorophytum comosum 'Vittatum,' C. comosum 'Vittatum,' NOID.

(Echinocactus grusonii.)





Match 1.39
Peperomia clusiifolia cvv. vs. Kalanchoe luciae / thyrsiflora (flapjack plant)

Bottom right: Peperomia clusiifolia. Other photos: P. clusiifolia variegated cv. (sometimes 'Rainbow,' 'Red Margin,' 'Jellie,' etc.)

Left: Kalanchoe thyrsiflora flowers. Right top and bottom: probably K. luciae.





Match 1.40
Echeveria cvv. and related plants (Sedeveria, Graptoveria, Pachyveria, etc.) vs. Nephrolepis exaltata cvv. (Boston fern, fluffy ruffles fern)

Top row, L-R: Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg,' E. 'Topsy Turvy,' E. setosa.
Middle row, L-R: Graptosedum 'Alpenglow - Vera Higgins,' Echeveria coccinea flowers, Echeveria 'The Rose.'
Bottom row, L-R: Echeveria nodulosa, Pachyveria x glauca, Echeveria x shaviana 'Pinky.'

Top and bottom right: unidentified Nephrolepis exaltata cvv. Bottom left: N. exaltata 'Lemon Button.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?
² Seriously, though -- you guys take Yucca guatemalensis and Anthurium both out in the first round? Have I done something to make you hate me?

Random plant event: Kohleria 'Peridots Kitlope'

Not the greatest picture (the camera has trouble with fluorescent lighting, no matter what color setting I use), but it's definitely a flower bud. This plant had flowers on it when it first got here, in May, but I haven't seen any since then, so this is pleasant.

The plant's been behaving a bit strangely since May: the leaf color has changed (they started out green with dark gray/brown veins, and are now solid gray/brown), and a number of sprouts of the plant have begun poking up next to the pot, all around its circumference, which I didn't expect but am told is normal for Kohleria.

Since it seems to be happy, I'm going to chalk the weird behavior up to the usual getting-to-know-you process and see what happens next. I might be able to post pictures of the bloom later, once that happens. The Chirita 'Deco' is flowering again, too, which I'd like to get better pictures of that than I had the first time. Maybe a double feature, then.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.33-1.36

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results for matches 1.17 to 1.20:

In match 1.17, Senecio rowleyanus and S. radicans got off to a strong start, but were soon overtaken by Phalaenopsis/Doritaenopsis cvv., ultimately losing by a score of 46 to 67.
Match 1.18, on the other hand, was about as unambiguous as it's possible for a match to be, with Monstera deliciosa clobbering Musa/Ensete cvv. 88 to 19. I'm a little puzzled about this, but hey, I voted for Monstera too, so.

Phalaenopsis and Monstera will face one another in match 2.9, on October 9.

By contrast with 1.18, match 1.19 has been a seesaw since it began, with Sansevieria cylindrica taking an early lead over Mammillaria spp., then falling behind, then regaining. In the end, Sansevieria managed a mere three-vote victory, 55 to 52, the closest margin so far.
Araucaria heterophylla's victory over Chamaedorea elegans in match 1.20 was never in doubt, though. Its votes have outnumbered Chamaedorea's by about a 2-to-1 margin since the poll opened, and it's won with more or less the same proportions, 69 to 40.

Sansevieria cylindrica and Araucaria heterophylla will also square off on October 9, in match 2.10.

And now the new matches for the day.

Match 1.33
Dionaea muscipula (venus flytrap) vs. Pilea mollis 'Moon Valley'

(Both Dionaea muscipula.)

(Both Pilea mollis 'Moon Valley.')





Match 1.34
Ardisia crenata (coral berry) vs. Aeschynanthus spp. (lipstick plant, goldfish plant)

(All are Ardisia crenata.)

Clockwise from top: Aeschynanthus lobbianus or A. radicans, A. longicaulis, A. speciosus.





Match 1.35
Aechmea fasciata (silver vase plant) vs. Rhapis excelsa (lady palm)

Top left: Aechmea fasciata emerging inflorescence. Others: non-blooming plants.

(Both Rhapis excelsa.)





Match 1.36
Coffea arabica (coffee plant) vs. Spathiphyllum cvv. (peace lily)

Coffea arabica, same plant when about 1-2 years old (L) and 4-5 years old (R).

Center and left top: Spathiphyllum NOID, possibly 'Golden Glow.' Bottom left: NOID, possibly 'Domino.' Top right: NOID, possibly 'Sensation' or 'Mauna Loa.' Bottom right: NOID.





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Music Video: "Russian Unicorn" (Bad Lip Reading / Michael Bublé )

I had planned to skip posting today, but then I ran into . . . this. And I, well, didn't quite know what to do with it, actually, but I'm pretty much convinced that it's my new favorite song. It's stuff like this that makes me think humans might be worthwhile after all.

Also it makes me want to get a porcupine so I can name him "Zazoom."

Possibly mildly NSFW due to toilet humor, language (barely), sexual references.

I recommend not drinking coffee while watching, just to be safe.



Here is a link to "Haven't Met You Yet," the original video, for reference purposes. Naturally WMG doesn't permit embedding of the video, 'cause heaven forfend that people be exposed to the music they're trying to sell, grumble grumble.

Yes, Michael Bublé has heard about this. He's cool with it. (I'm coming to this late -- it was posted July 11. I never promised PATSP would be bleeding-edge internet cool.)

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.29-1.32

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results for matches 1.13 to 1.16

The bracket selection was more or less random,² so very similar plants occasionally wound up in competition with one another during the first round. Two such pairings happened in this batch, but y'all appear to have had no difficulty choosing one over the other. Interestingly, the vote proportions wound up being eerily similar for each of the four contests in this set, with the winner getting about 67% of the vote in each case.

Match 1.13 saw Ficus maclellandii beating Schefflera elegantissima easily, 71 to 34, despite both plants having a narrow/pointy/treelike thing going on. I guess this means that some of you have tried to grow S. elegantissima.
In match 1.14, the votes were similar, in favor of Strelitzia nicolai and S. reginae over Guzmania cvv., 69 to 37.

Ficus maclellandii and Strelitzia nicolai/reginae both advance to match 2.7, where they will face off against one another. That won't be posted until October 8, which hopefully will be enough time for me to decide which one to vote for.

Match 1.15 was the other one where I thought maybe the combatants were maybe too similar, both being pretty common vining plants, but you guys chose Philodendron hederaceum cvv. over Syngonium podophyllum cvv. by, again, about a two to one margin (68 to 37).
And finally, in match 1.16, Dracaena fragrans cvv. handily defeated Saxifraga stolonifera, 71 to 36. Except not handily, because they don't have hands. Rootily. Leafily. Something like that.

Philodendron hederaceum cvv. will face Dracaena fragrans cvv. on October 8, in match 2.8, which will also be a difficult one for me to vote on. Maybe I should just not vote that day.

But there are votes to be cast today, so have at 'em:

Match 1.29
Pachira aquatica (money tree) vs. Pilosocereus pachycladus

(Pachira aquatica.)

(Pilosocereus pachycladus.)





Match 1.30
Cordyline fruticosa cvv. (ti plant) vs. Euphorbia lactea cvv.

Clockwise from top left: Cordyline fruticosa 'Florica,' species, NOID, NOID which might be 'Chocolate Queen,' 'Kiwi.'

Clockwise from left: Euphorbia lactea, Euphorbia lactea crest grafted onto a E. drupifera base, crested E. lactea.





Match 1.31
Ravenea rivularis (majesty palm) vs. Mimosa pudica (sensitive plant)

(Both Ravenea rivularis.)

Both Mimosa pudica. Left photo belongs to, and is used with permission from, Liza Wheeler at Good to Grow.





Match 1.32
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (tropical hibiscus) vs. Dracaena sanderiana (lucky bamboo, ribbon plant)

All unidentified cvv. except left center ('Mrs. Jimmy Spangler') and bottom right ('Sunny Wind').

(Dracaena sanderiana, variegated cv.)





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?
² (I had a list of plants in Excel, created a column of random numbers next to it, then sorted according to the random numbers. I swapped a few plants around after that, if it looked like two plants that would be very popular were facing off against one another in the first round, so the end result is not strictly random, but it's pretty close.)

Random plant event: Aeschynanthus spp.

I got cuttings of A. radicans via trade from a reader in May, some of which I planted as cuttings and some of which I planted as leaves.

I posted about the leaves a couple weeks ago, but now the cuttings are doing something too -- they're going to bloom. I wasn't expecting that yet, since I'd started them so recently.


The A. longicaulis is also getting ready to bloom, which is less of a surprise (it's happened before) but still a surprise (I didn't know when to expect it to happen again.).


It's also going to be less of a big deal once it happens, because the flowers -- although they're interesting; I'm not saying they're not interesting -- aren't as bright and showy on the longicaulis. (Link to previous A. longicaulis flowers post.)

Meanwhile, the A. speciosus started to flower weeks ago. (How many weeks, you ask? I'm not actually sure. Judging by the dates on the first photos I took, it looks like I first noticed in early September, so the plant must have been setting buds in mid-August?) I always enjoy this. I have trouble getting the color balance right on the camera, but the flowers are a really amazing bright orange, numerous, and reasonably long-lasting, and I discovered something else about them this time around. On Saturday, I was moving plants around for watering, and the nectar from one of the A. speciosus flowers dripped out onto my hand, so I tasted it.

Definitely sweet, though not much of any other flavor to it. Basically just sugar water.¹ I can see why birds would like it, though.


It's unclear whether I'm going to get an opportunity to cross-pollinate any of these, or whether that's even chromosomally possible, but I intend to try, mostly out of curiosity about what I'd get if it worked.

So far, the one holdout is A. 'Thai Pink,' which isn't showing any signs of buds. It also hasn't seemed to be entirely happy here, though -- a few individual plants within the pot have died -- so maybe it's not going to.

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¹ Link is only tangentially-related. Check out the video for "Know Your Chicken" too, while you're there: it has a certain WTF-ness that I appreciate.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.25-1.28

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match results, 1.9-1.12
In match 1.9, Dracaena reflexa cvv. walloped Hylocereus/Gymnocalycium grafts by the staggering margin of 80 to 24. This is not altogether surprising, though it does mean that RATJ voters are probably not a representative sample of the plant-buying public, since the public can't seem to get enough of them.
In the less-dramatic match 1.10, Asparagus spp. were victorious over Cissus rhombifolia cvv. by the respectable 62 to 34. I'd figured it would be closer than that.

Dracaena reflexa cvv. and Asparagus spp. will go up against one another on October 8, in match 2.5.

Match 1.11 had me mildly terrified before it went up, just because at that point many of my picks weren't doing well, and I very much did not want to see poinsettias beat Chinese evergreens. I needn't have worried, as it turned out -- Aglaonema cvv. delivered Euphorbia pulcherrima the Christmas present of a hard-core ass-kicking, with a score of 82 to 21. That's the most one-sided any match has been so far, though match 1.18 (Monstera deliciosa vs. Musa/Ensete cvv.) is running 85%-15% in favor of Monstera as I write this, and I'll be surprised if today's match 1.28, down the page here, doesn't wind up being even more lopsided than that.
In match 1.12, Oxalis triangularis cvv. narrowly edged out Jasminum spp., 57 to 45. I voted for Oxalis, but figured I'd be the only one to do so, and am completely at a loss to explain what the hell happened there. I thought everybody loved jasmine.

So, Aglaonema cvv. opposes Oxalis triangularis cvv. next, in match 2.6.

Now for today's matches:

Match 1.25
Stromanthe sanguinea cvv. vs. Platycerium spp. (staghorn fern)

Upper left and lower right: Stromanthe sanguinea 'Magicstar.'
Lower left and upper right: Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.'

(Unidentified Platycerium spp.)





Match 1.26
Hypoestes phyllostachya cvv. (polka-dot plant) vs. Gynura aurantiaca (purple passion plant)

(Various unidentified Hypoestes phyllostachya cultivars.)

(All Gynura aurantiaca.)





Match 1.27
Aloe vera (medicinal aloe, burn plant) vs. Gymnocalycium spp.

(Top: young Aloe vera. Bottom: mature A. vera.)

(Top: Gymnocalycium NOID. Bottom: G. baldianum.)





Match 1.28
Dracaena surculosa (gold-dust dracaena) vs. Schlumbergera cvv. (holiday/Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus)

(Dracaena surculosa cv.)

Center and top left: Schlumbergera 'Caribbean Dancer;' others are NOID.





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Pretty picture: Cattleya aurantiaca

Another unruffled Cattleya. Even less ruffled than the last one, in fact.


Somewhat scrambling for time again today, so I'll just point you to this page for more information on the species. Officially, the name has been changed to Guarianthe aurantiaca, but if you want to pretend that you didn't read that, I wouldn't blame you.


Developing an Orchid Collection with Backbulbs has a page on C. aurantiaca as well.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.21-1.24

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match results, 1.5 to 1.8

I'm finding it interesting that so far, the winner of the first twenty or so votes has always accurately predicted the final result. Maybe this is a sign that I don't understand statistics. Even in the closest match so far (1.2: Peperomia obtusifolia vs. small Vriesea hybrids), every time I checked, the same plant was always ahead, and it was the one that eventually won the match. Considering that Vriesea was sometimes only down by 2 votes, I would have expected the leader to change back and forth at least once.

The ongoing match between Mammillaria spp. and Sansevieria cylindrica (match 1.19) may be the first one to break this rule -- initially Sansevieria cylindrica was leading, then Mammillaria. They were exactly tied as of 3 PM CDT today.

Anyway.

Match 1.5 was very nearly a blowout, as Saintpaulia cvv. pounded Hemigraphis exotica into a sticky green-purple paste, 82 to 27. Sure, that's more or less what I was expecting to happen, but still. Pretty brutal.

In what I consider a stunning upset, Echinopsis spp. stomped Cyclamen persicum in match 1.6, 72 to 45. I would have bet money that Cyclamen would win that one: apparently I had underestimated the amount of Cyclamen hatred (or Echinopsis love?) out there.

Saintpaulia cvv. will face off against Echinopsis spp. in match 2.3, in a couple weeks. I'm pretty sure I know how that one's going to end up, but we'll see.

Match 1.7 saw Pachypodium spp. making a good effort against Epipremnum aureum, but not quite good enough. Pachypodium loses, 47 to 68.

Finally, Match 1.8 was very nearly the same story, as a perfectly nice, somewhat unusual plant (Scindapsus pictus) was defeated by a popular and well-known one (Crassula ovata et al.). The only difference was the more one-sided margin of victory: the final score was 31 to 85.

Epipremnum aureum will face off against Crassula ovata in match 2.4. That one's going to be really interesting to watch.

And now, today's matches:

Match 1.21
Dracaena marginata cvv. (madagascar dragon tree) vs. Ficus lyrata cvv. (fiddle-leaf fig)

(L-R:) Dracaena marginata, D. marginata 'Colorama,' D. marginata 'Bicolor.'

L-R: Ficus lyrata, F. lyrata, F. lyrata 'Little Fiddle.'





Match 1.22
Fittonia albivenis cvv. (nerve plant) vs. Cereus peruvianus (peruvian apple cactus)

Clockwise from top left: Fittonia albivenis 'White Anne,' NOID, NOID, species (?), 'Frankie.'

L-R: Cereus peruvianus monstrose, C. peruvianus, C. peruvianus 'Spiralis.'





Match 1.23
Polyscias balfouriana/scutellaria (balfour aralia, shield aralia) vs. Hoya carnosa cvv. (wax plant)

L-R: Polyscias scutellaria, variegated Polyscias balfouriana.

Clockwise from top left: Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Princess,' 'Chelsea,' all-green revert of 'Krimson Princess,' 'Krimson Queen.'





Match 1.24
Maranta leuconeura cvv. (prayer plant) vs. Anthurium cvv. (flamingo flower, tail flower)

Top: Maranta leuconeura 'Marisela.' Bottom: M. leuconeura var. kerchoveana.

Clockwise from top left: A. 'Pandola,' NOID, A. 'Florida,' NOID.





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?